Sweet DreamsSweet Nightmares
by angels-stole-my-police-box
Summary: This is the third Hetty Davies adventure. Why are the inhabitants of the space station comitting suicide? Who are Soronet? How many legs does a space pig have? R&R welcome
1. Chapter 1

Title: Sweet dreams, sweet nightmares

Author: angelsstolemypolicebox aka Ria

Fandom: Doctor Who

Rating: T

Disclaimer: The doctor and the tardis are property of the BBC and the god that is Russell T Davies no profit is being made from this fiction and the above are borrowed with thanks. Hetty is all mine

Warning: Some violence and scenes of a harrowing nature which may be deemed unsuitable for youngsters and people of a nervous disposition.

Status: This is a work in progress.

Summary: This story carries on from where Hitched left off. Hetty leaves her humdrum life behind to travel with the doctor, but is the universe ready for Nurse Hetty Davies?

Part 1

Hetty vainly struggled with the holdalls zip. After some panting and pulling the zip hit home. She wasn't sure how long she was going to be away so she had to pack for every eventuality. What did they wear on other planets anyway? Did the doctor have a washing machine? She smirked to herself at the thought of the doctor under mounds of ironing.

He had given her a few days to get things in order, such as say goodbye to some people, pack and give up her job. Everything felt so final. This was the beginning of a new chapter in her life and she had to face it head on. The doctor had promised that he would come back for her, he wasn't going to let her walk out on him again. She remembered the way he looked at her when she said she would go with him. His eyes danced in the moonlight and he seemed happy for the first time in quite a while. They had spent the rest of the evening together.

Pam had left them to go back to their room for an early night. Hetty thought that was an excuse so that she could leave them on their own. They had sat by the fountain talking about what they had done since they had left each other. Hetty told the doctor of how weird it was settling back into life in Manchester after the hustle and bustle of London. She felt that after what had happened on Gavanair she could not be away from Pam. They talked until the sun came up and then parted and agreed to meet three days later.

Hetty looked around her room for the last time and sighed. So many memories still hung in the air in that room. A small part of her was glad to see the back of it again.

Pam put the kettle on to boil for her visitor. The doctor shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. He should have brought flowers, that's what you do when you meet someone's parent for the first time isn't it? Except on Laxentor where you bring the head of a Brifestat. Somehow he didn't think that Pam would appreciate a severed head as a greeting present.

"Do you take sugar Dr Smith?" Pam asked over shoulder as she popped some teabags into the pot.

"Actually I think I won't thanks, been trying to loose a bit of weight. Been putting on a few extra pounds this last couple of hundred……" Pam stared at him. "Anyway… erm how have you been since the party?" he said trying to change the subject.

"I've been fine. I'm worried about Hetty though she has had her head in the clouds since she agreed to go travelling around the world with you." the doctor smiled. He and Hetty had decided to tell Pam that they were going to the poorer parts of the world to help out with medicines and disease control. Well the second part might be right but he hoped not.

"Well she is a big girl now and she can handle herself." the doctor said with a smile. Pam glared at him.

"She will always be my little girl and you remember that! I was the one who had to pick up the pieces the last time you decided you didn't want to be with her." the doctor opened his mouth to correct her and decided against the idea. He had vivid memories and a few scars from scorned parents.

"I will look after her, that I can promise you!" he replied in a soothing voice. There was an awkward silence as he followed Pam into the sitting room. She had insisted on carrying the tray with the cups and teapot on. He sat himself down as Pam poured tea into the delicate china mugs. He took his cup and sat back.

"I've always known she was different!" the doctor nearly choked on his tea. "Oh I'm very observant doctor. She was always years ahead of all the others at school, she always had that far away look in her eyes and never seemed to feel like she belonged." Pam looked out of the window thoughtfully. "The other night when you said she was not of this life? You meant it didn't you? She doesn't belong to this earth does she?" the doctor sat in deep thought. If he said yes how would she react? Would she disown Hetty? How do you tell a mother who has such feelings for a child that she has looked after for 25 years; that she is an alien?

"Pam….." the doctor was interrupted by Hetty. He was obscured from her view by the door.

"Mum I'm all packed bar my pink bra have you seen it? He'll be here any minute…….why are you laughing?" Pam's face was red with laughter and pointed behind the door. Hetty closed her eyes and blushed. She couldn't look. Slowly she peered around the sitting room door to find the doctor waving at her. It was then they all collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Hetty swung the small rucksack onto her back and followed the heavily laden doctor out of the front door. She turned to say her last goodbye to Pam.

"Now you take care, you hear all these stories of young women going missing from places like that."

"I will mum I promise!" she said hugging her. When she stood back she noticed Pam was crying.

"Mum you'll have me starting in a minute!" Hetty croaked fighting back the tears.

"Pam I will personally make sure she phones you when she can! But we really must go or we will miss our train!" the doctor said taking Hetty's hand. Hetty felt herself being dragged out of her front gate.

"Love you mum!" she shouted.

"Love you too be safe!" Pam shouted after them.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Hetty hesitated outside the Tardis door. This was it no turning back. She looked once again at her street. The doctor had parked (what he called discreetly) around the corner from her house. It was right next to the post box, the large blue wooden box that he called home; the Tardis.

Gently she pushed open the door and stepped inside. It hadn't changed. She still felt her warm embrace, the safe feeling. She stroked one of the supporting arches and felt the it hum under her hand, it felt like it was purring.

"If your waiting for her to roll over and let you rub her belly you'll be waiting a long time." the doctor was standing with his arms folded across his chest leaning against the console watching her. Hetty smiled at him.

"I think she's warming to me?"

"Ahh sorry to disappoint you but that's her warming up for flight." he said turning to the console.

"Well she will have to get used to me being here now won't she. I never thought that when I signed up for this I would have to tag along with the jealous girlfriend!" she said picking up her bags that the doctor had left at the foot of the ramp. "If your lucky I will give you a spit and a polish later!" she said giving the console an affectionate pat as she walked past. The Tardis seemed to sigh. Hetty giggled.

"No fair, now don't you be ganging up on me now you two!" the doctor said pouting.

"Why do you need buffing up too?" she asked raising her eyebrows. The doctor was lost for words. "So where can I put these and where do you keep the kettle?" Hetty said striding off in the direction of the door leading out of the console room. The doctor let out a long sigh and smiled.

"You'll always be my number one girl, but I best go and find her before she gets lost." he said following her.

The doctor had let her choose her own room. They had stood before three doors and he had told her to choose one. She'd looked at him bewildered. Then after a few moments she walked over to one of the doors and paused with her hand on the handle. She looked back at the doctor and smiled he stood stony faced and drummed his fingers on his arm. She had opened the door to find a broom cupboard. She took in the contents of the cupboard and heard raucous laughter from behind her. She turned to see the doctor in fits of laughter. When he had calmed down he walked over and opened the real door to her new room.

Hetty walked in and smiled. It was the exact replica of her bedroom back in London. Everything was there even down to her drawing from Jodie. Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes and she turned to see the doctor casually leaning on the door frame. She felt the sudden urge to hit him again but thought that for just this once she would let it slide.

"Sarah Jane said that she always preferred the other console room…."

Hetty was lost in her own thoughts. So far they had seen the library that was seemed to hold every book known to man and quite a lot she didn't know; the cloister room which even Alan Titchmarsh would need more than Charlie and Tommy to help him sort out; and the kitchen. The kitchen being the highlight so far. She was glad to see that for someone who travelled so much he had such a well stocked fridge, an agar and yes it had a microwave. She had promised the doctor one of her famous curries at a later date, making a mental note to memorise the whereabouts of the toilets. Her train of thought was disturbed by the doctor coughing.

"Sorry, I was trying to remember where everything is!"

"The Tardis does tend to move things around a bit every now and again."

"So what's in there then? The sauna and Jacuzzi?"

"You'll see!" he said pushing the heavy wooden doors. Hetty cautiously walked inside.

Hetty looked at the rows and rows of clothes that towered above her. How can one man wear all these clothes? The doctor signalled for her to go up the stairs to the upper levels. Excitedly she ran up the steps two at a time. The doctor watched her run in and out of the racks like a child in a playground.

"Your welcome to take anything you like, the washer is over in the back. The only rule is that you do your own ironing!" She appeared on one of the gantry's above him.

"If I hadn't seen inside you head all these women's clothes might have given me the wrong idea!" she shouted scooting off again. The doctor pulled up a chair, he could be in for a long wait.

Hetty wearily trotted down the last flight of stairs. She had found something at the back of all the clothes that had caught her eye. The doctor seemed to be dozing. She quietly walked over to him and shook him gently. He awoke with a start and jumped up from the chair.

"Hey sleepy head!" the doctors eyes were still trying to focus. He saw the figure in front of him in jeans and was it? Yes it was definitely a union jack t-shirt. ROSE! The doctor wrapped the young woman in a bear hug.

"Hey I was only gone a few minutes!" she said peeling the doctor off her.

"Hetty?" he said confused.

"Yeah It's me who did you think it was?" the doctor stood looking at her for a few moments.

"Where did you find that?" he hissed coldly.

"In the back, it was a thing to find it was in a big trunk…….What did you just say?"

"Take it off!" he spat.

"What do you mean? Doctor you're scaring me!" she said backing off. The doctor glared at her. He shortened the gap between them and grabbed her by the arms.

"Are you deaf I said take it off!" he shouted shaking her. Hetty stood dazed looking into his deranged eyes. He was mad and he was starting to hurt her.

"Let go of me!" she shouted at him trying to wrestle out of his grip. He wasn't letting go.

"It doesn't belong to you!" he spat in her face. Hetty was now shaking. What could she do? Then it hit her. She brought her foot down on his hard and he yelped in pain and released his grip. Hetty ran out of the door in tears, leaving behind the doctor to nurse his bruised foot.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

The doctor flicked the hair out of his eyes for the fourth time that day. He had been brooding in his room for days. At least his foot had stopped throbbing. He'd deserved that. How was she to know that the t-shirt was Roses'. The problem he now faced was how on earth was he going to apologise? It was then he heard the knock on the door. His breath caught in his throat. It was her on the other side. He sat still afraid to move in case she heard him. There was silence. He strained to hear any sound coming from the other side of the door. After a few moments he stood up feeling rather silly. What was the worst she could do? Slap him? She could…… murder him with his own cricket bat? He'd seen her eyeing it up in the wardrobe! He shook his head and strode purposely towards the door.

Slowly he opened the heavy wooden door to his room. He peered around the door to find the corridor outside empty. The doctor breathed a sigh of relief and leant his head against the door. Why would Hetty want to kill him? Probably because he scared her half to death! He rolled his eyes heavenwards. It was then he noticed a note stuck to the door. That certainly hadn't been there before. He reached out and peeled it off. It read 'Kitchen 7pm'. It looked like he had a date to get ready for.

The Tardis was eerily quiet. The doctor walked slowly towards the kitchen. He had been working on his apology for the rest of that afternoon. First he had toyed with the idea that perhaps it wasn't his fault because he had just seen the t-shirt and gotten the wrong idea. Then after arguing with himself he decided that the best option was to apologise. As he reached the kitchen he reached into his coat pocket to make sure that his sonic screwdriver was at hand just in case. Patting his pocket he entered the kitchen.

The bright fluorescent lights had been left off; and the only light was from the majestic white candles that sat on the table. The table itself had been set for dinner. A tablecloth had been laid, and places set. The doctor's nostrils were filled with the smell of exotic herbs and spices. He smiled at the fragrance and made to look what was in the pot on the stove.

"No peeking!" Hetty said as she came into the kitchen from the larder. "Hope your hungry I've made enough to feed an army!" The doctor looked at her. She had tied her hair up; it suited her. She was wearing his apron. Not everyone can carry off an apron with dancing food on it. She had a smudge of something on her cheek and he made to wipe it off; but she backed away. Hetty blushed and walked around the doctor to stir the contents of the pot.

"Well sit down then! It looks like you haven't used any of this stuff in years." she said gesturing around her.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked quietly.

"Let me guess there is a great Chinese takeaway just past Neptune?" she said starting to put food on the table.

"Please I need to apologise for my behaviour….."

"There was a great Chinese just around the corner from my old flat. They did the best ever Chicken chow….."

"Hetty!" the doctor shouted. Hetty stopped putting the rice on to the plates. "Please I need to talk to you!" Hetty looked at him. He was imploring for her to listen. She heaved a sigh.

"Ok I'll finish dishing up and then I'm all ears!"

"This is amazing!" the doctor said looking at the mountain of curry and rice that Hetty had put before him.

"It's only chicken curry!" she said tearing into her naan bread.

"I've forgotten how long ago it was that I actually sat down to eat in here." the doctor poured himself and Hetty a glass of water. "I remember it was Ro…" Hetty stopped short of putting the fork full of food in her mouth.

"No sorry it was Ace! She decided to make me a full English breakfast one morning. She was making scrambled eggs, she didn't notice that they weren't exactly hen's eggs and I had terrible trouble trying to stop the nenith…"

"It's ok, you can talk about her." Hetty said lowering her gaze. After an awkward silence the doctor spoke.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that!" he said soothingly. Hetty looked at him in the candlelight. His expression was that of regret. He really was sorry.

"I didn't know it was hers, it was partly my fault too." she said reaching over the table and touching his hand. The doctor let it stay there.

"Losing Rose was so hard. I just saw you there and hoped that it was her."

"I know, but you said yourself that it was impossible for either of you to see each other again. You have to move on. There are countless people out there that need you too. I can't ever take her place and I don't want to; but you are stuck with me. I'm along for the ride, and I don't want this to come between us. I have given up a cushy job and my wild lifestyle to be here with you." the doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Ok, ok; but the job part was right. I want us to be honest with each other. This is a new start for both of us." she said withdrawing her hand. "Now with that out of the way I'd better get this in the microwave!" she said getting up from her chair taking the doctor's plate. He smiled at her, she was right. Rose was gone and Hetty wasn't just there to fill the void. He stretched and put his hands behind his head and hoped that her cooking was better than Ace's.

After discovering to his peril that Hetty liked her curry hot, the tub of chocolate ice-cream was soothing his mouth nicely. Hetty had laughed so hard that she had nearly choked.

Hetty was still giggling as she cleared away the dishes. The doctor had offered to do the washing up when his tongue had settled down. She took a spoon from the nearby drawer and went to join him. As she was about to dig in an alarm sounded. They both looked at each other bemused. The doctor dropped his spoon and ran from the kitchen in the direction of the console room closely followed by Hetty.

When she entered the console room she found the doctor staring intently at the monitor.

"What's going on?" she asked standing peering over his shoulder.

"There is an emergency distress signal being beamed from that space station." he said pointing to the rather foreboding structure that orbited a beautiful pink gaseous planet.

"So who's sending it?" Hetty asked.

"Not sure… perhaps there is trouble? Danger?" he said spookily.

"Perhaps we should let someone else answer it then!" Hetty said with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah perhaps……." the doctor's mouth broke into a wicked grin. "We laugh in the face of danger…. And then run and hide!" he laughed as he set the tardis in motion.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

Bowder peered around the corner. There was some very weird crap going on here. Kat had been the first. The captain had found her in her quarters. She had hung herself. Why would the stations priest hang themselves? It had always worried him that they needed a priest anyway!

Then there was Ciera; the youngest of the crew. She would spend nights in her quarters crying. She was only 21 and the stations tech expert. Some kind of whiz kid, captains pet. Ate, drank and slept the corporation. He still had nightmares about finding her body. She hadn't shown up for duty so the captain decided that he was the one to go find her. He had got no answer when he knocked on her door. When he placed his ear against her door he could hear the radio. He managed to override the door code and get in.

Her room lights were turned down to ambient. The radio seemed to be playing a really old pop song. He remembered his sister playing it when she was going out. He closed his eyes. Ronnie. She would have been about the same age. Was that why he had taken Ciera under his wing? Had he been looking for someone to love just as he had loved her? He noticed her night things on the bed and blushed looking away. The music seemed to be coming from the bathroom up ahead.

"Ciera are you in there?" he had shouted but had got no reply. He slowly nudged the door open. It was then he noticed the sea of bloodstained water on the linoleum floor. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off the snake like pattern. His stomach turned and he slowly looked up at the bath. Ciera lay there like an angel. She looked as if she were sleeping. Her naked skin was bloated and white; she had an expression of bliss on her pale face. He looked down at the arm that drooped over the side of the bath. It had an inch long cut along it, enough to sever an artery; she had bled to death. Bowder's heart now took residence in his throat. Why and what had made her do this to herself? He sank to his knees. He felt the cold mixture of water seep through his trousers. The feeling of sorrow for this young girls life was unbearable. He crawled to the bath and drew her head close to his chest and cradled her sobbing.

Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. The captain had given the preacher and Ciera a burial in space. Bowder hated it. It felt so cold to send the bodies into the emptiness of space. Their families would never get to pay their last respects.

Dr Andra Solomon the station's doctor had given them all what she called risk evaluations. Played with their mind. He didn't need a shrink to tell him he was as sane as the next man. This was his second post for the company. He'd seen it all before. Crew members becoming stir crazy being holed up in this relic. Even gotten into a few fights with most of them. That was his job. To sort out the crew, he was the crew liaison officer. It still made him laugh that title. He wasn't all that good with people. His motto had used to be hit first and ask questions later. It must have been old age that had mellowed him. He ran gnarled tobacco stained fingers through his dirty grey hair. Yep he had seen some pretty freaky stuff in this past few weeks but nothing quite a strange as the rather large blue box that had appeared in the docking area on his usual sweep that night. He fired up his ever faithful laser pistol and waited to see what emerged.


	5. Chapter 5

Warning: Slight sexual references.

Part 5

Hetty found the doctor checking the controls as she walked back into the console room. He looked up as he heard her booted footsteps on the grating.

"What?" Hetty said coming to a stop at the console. The doctor stood open mouthed at the sight before him. She said she was going to change from her sweat pants and baggy t-shirt but he didn't realise that this outfit was in her collection.

Her long raven hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail; this helped to define her elfin like face. She wore a deep purple baby doll top that gathered in all the right places to accentuate other things. The hem of the top brushed atop of the low slung black jeans, just showing the slightest hint of torso. On her feet she wore black boots with just enough of a heel for her eyes to be level with the tip of his nose. He had started to feel a tad warm and ran his fingers around the collar of his shirt and loosened his tie ever so slightly. He felt his hearts beat just that little bit quicker and yes he was starting to feel uncomfortable. Why all of a sudden did he feel like he was meeting his date for the first time?

"Doctor are you ok?" she said putting a comforting hand on his arm. This brought the doctor back to the console room.

"Hmm yes…. Yeah I mean we've landed." he said scooting around the other side of the console blushing not wanting to meet her gaze.

"I hope you don't mind but I found this the other day in your wardrobe and felt…..well that it might suit me?" he peered around the time rotor and saw that Hetty was holding up a battered and faded black leather jacket.

"Ohhh yes!" he said with a beaming smile and bounding around the console once more to take the jacket from her. He deftly held the jacket in the air.

"We've seen some action this jacket and I! Held off the last…. Well thought it was the last Dalek, met Charles Dickens even wore it in downing street!" he closed his eyes and sniffed the leather.

"Sorry you should keep it then!" she said feeling a little embarrassed. It seemed that it obviously meant a lot to him.

"What? No! I want you to have it! It deserves a good home." the doctor said holding it open for her to put on. Hetty smiled.

"Only if your sure?" the doctor nodded and smiled. Hetty slipped into the jacket. It fitted almost perfectly; the sleeves were a little long but she could cope with that. The doctor stood back to take in the full ensemble. He crossed his arms and stood like a painter admiring his latest creation. Hetty laughed at him.

"I think you pass. Is the universe ready for Hetty Davies?"

"There is only one way to find out?" she said striding past him towards the door.

The doctor sighed and followed her picking up his coat from it's usual place on the way past.

Hetty stopped short of the door.

"Hang on! The air outside is breathable for us humans?" she said taking her hand out of her pocket.

"Of course!" he said opening the door and stepping outside.

"When did you meet Simon Cowell?" she said staring at the autographed napkin in her hand and following him outside.

The noise of the closing of the Tardis door reverberated around the vastness of the docking area. The air was stale and cold. Hetty shivered. The doctor stood taking in their new surroundings.

"So who do you think sent the distress signal then?" she said digging her hands in her pockets to keep them warm.

"Ohh I don't know? But I guess we'd better find out before the cause of the distress finds us!" he said with his all knowing smile and strode off to explore.

Bowder watched as the man and woman began to wander around deep in conversation. He checked his gun again and thought that he would make his move when they made to go further into the station. The crackling of his radio shocked him.

"Bowder get you ass into engineering!" Captain DeSilva barked. Bowder closed his eyes and prayed for sanity.

"Sorry sir I am investigating a strange occurrence in the docking bay. A cra….."

"I don't care if you are washing your hair, that mucked up alien friend of yours is causing a riot down there! You are the only one that she will listen too. The coms to the surface are down and I have an important link up due if I don't take it were screwed! So move your ass!" Bowder took one last look at the strangers. What trouble could two people make? It wasn't his problem anymore, his illustrious leader felt it was unimportant. He made a mental note of it and headed out of the docking bay towards engineering.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

"Don't you think they should have noticed us by now?" Hetty said pulling the jacket around her more. The sheer size of the docking bay overwhelmed her. She'd seen them on the television but when you saw the real thing it was more Aliens than Blue Peter.

"Ohh I don't know, probably polishing their guns or knitting!" the doctor said dropping what looked like a spanner noisily back into its box. Hetty cringed.

"I thought we were supposed to be incog…. Inco.. Undercover?" she said a little tongue tied.

"Incognito! Well what harm can we do? Anyway got an answer for them!" he said searching in his pockets. After some rummaging he produced a small black leather wallet.

"So your going to show them your passport photo and were going to get away whilst their laughing?" the doctor looked hurt.

"No! This Miss know it all is psychic paper. Got me out of plenty of scrapes this has." Hetty looked at him a little confused. She was about to say something when claxons started blaring and the hazard lights came on.

"I think they know were here!" the doctor said running further into the bowels of the station.

Bowder rounded the last corner and nearly barrelled into Dr Solomon.

"You'd better get in there she has really lost it this time!" she said running in the direction of the med bay.

"Is that your professional opinion doctor?" he shouted after her. No reply came.

The door to engineering hung loosely from its hinges. She had done this? Bowder moved the door aside safely and entered with caution. Before him the captain was barking orders at Melina.

"Stop! What are you doing, your going to kill us all!"

Melina was frantically working on one of the computers.

"You don't care! You killed them! Ciera and the priest!" she spat at him.

"They took their own lives!" he said drawing his gun. Bowder pushed the gun down until the barrel aimed at the floor.

"Melina…… Melina!" Bowder barked. She stopped and looked at him.

"Barin! I have to! I have to stop them!" she implored. Barin Bowder moved to her. He gently reached up and stroked the yellow scaly skin of her cheek. This action caused the spines on her head to vibrate like the sound of a rattle snake tail.

"Stop who?" Melina took his hand and placed it against her chest.

"You feel it too; I know. Who will be next!" she said smiling at him. He looked longingly into her oversized black eyes. She blinked her four eyelids and he smiled. Suddenly a pain shot through the hand that was on her chest. He withdrew it and stared transfixed at the black spine that had now pierced his palm and was protruding out the other side.

He felt woozy. The venom was starting to take effect.

"What….. Why …..?"

"I can't let you stop me any of you! When you see them for what they are!" Captain DeSilva became aware that Melina was looking over his shoulder. He span around to see two strangers behind him.

"Who the hell are you?" he barked.

"Looks like you need a hand! Were from the….. You know head office." the doctor said waving the psychic paper in front of him and making towards Melina. Hetty rushed over to Bowder and was checking his injuries.

"Doctor I think he is going into toxic shock!" Bowder was shaking uncontrollably. Hetty settled him on the ground.

"Now what is going on? Why did you do that to him? Hmm?" the doctor said soothingly to Melina who seemed to be torn between wanting to help her friend and the computer console at her side.

"I….. I need them to see!" she said shakily.

"See what?"

"Need them to see what they really are. They killed them you see!" she said hysterically.

The doctor pulled out his horn rimmed glasses out of his pocket and placed them deftly on his nose.

"Ahh now this I haven't seen in a while…. Yellow scales, four eyelids, reticular spines, and yes….. Four fingers! You're a Rinax aren't you?" he said rocking back on his heels and smiling his ever knowing smile. Melina seemed shocked.

"You know of my race?"

"Ohh yes! I've been to your planet many times, even been banned from most of it!" he said feeling a little embarrassed. Melina's mood seemed to soften and Captain DeSilva edged forward.

"No stay back!" Melina screamed. The doctor shot a look of disgust at the captain.

"Let me help you!" the doctor said soothingly. Melina looked scared out of her wits.

What had made her do this?

"Please you have to listen to me! They are killing us, they need our fear and our dreams. If I do this they will be exposed!" she said taking the doctors hand.

The doctor looked deep into her eyes, what was she trying to tell him. She moved back to the console.

'Life support system shutting down in 2 minutes' the computer voice spoke over the tannoy system.

"No! What have you done?" the doctor bellowed.

"What has to be done! Now you will see!" she screamed.

"Doctor?" Hetty shouted.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

"Melina you have to stop this now!" the doctor roared.

"They will kill us all one by one anyway!" she cried. Suddenly Melina clutched her shoulder. She turned to look at the doorway. Dr Solomon lowered the dart gun. Melina pulled out the dart and wavered for a moment and then fell to the floor. Captain DeSilva rushed to the console and tried in vain to undo what Melina had done.

_**'LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM SHUT DOWN IN 60 SECONDS**_"

"I can't stop the countdown!" Captain DeSilva said punching the console. The doctor rushed over and frantically began trying to decipher the code to stop it.

Hetty had left Doctor Solomon looking after Bowder and joined them.

"What are you going to do?" she asked worriedly.

"If I can just recalibrate these…. "

"Have you tried this big red button?"

"You never touch the red button!" he shouted.

**_"LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM SHUT DOWN IN 30 SECONDS"_**

"I think we should!"

"Your of the television generation don't you know that red buttons are bad news!" Hetty looked him square in the eye and pushed it.

The silence was deafening. The klaxons had stopped.

**_"SYSTEMS RESTARTED."_**

"How on earth did you know that?" the doctor said scratching the back of his head.

"Probably because us useless humans can read!" she said defiantly pointing to the small plaque underneath the button which read 'System restart'.

"Ahh!" he said sheepishly. Hetty exhaled loudly and went to help Dr Solomon.

"Oooh you've got a feisty one there. They seem to be letting more of these new women into the corporation nowadays!" said the captain.

"It's nice to see that even this far down the line that sexism isn't dead!" the doctor went to check on Melina.

"Jesus a married couple."

Hetty put the dirty examination gloves into the waste disposal. Dr Solomon cleared away the surgical trolley. Bowder was sedated but stable. It had taken an hour to remove the spine from his hand. They had managed to save it, any longer and they would have had to amputate. The atmosphere had been tense all through the operation.

"So how long have you been stationed here?" Hetty asked trying to make conversation.

"This will be my third term."

Hetty checked the drip feeding Bowder with fluids.

"Don't you miss your family? It must get awful lonely up here?" Dr Gina Solomon smiled at Hetty. She was right it did get lonely here; not that she ever told anyone. She moved a stray blonde hair from her line of vision. She looked longingly at the finger that once bore a wedding ring.

"So who's your friend?" Gina said busying herself restocking the medicine trolley.

"The doctor? He's well… a travelling companion!" Gina's eyes widened. "No honest!" Hetty said giggling and blushing crimson.

"He is a bit cute hmm?"

"Can't say I've noticed!" Hetty said smiling. "He does do this cute thing though. He pulls his ear lobe when he's nervous!" Gina laughed and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"I think we should leave Barin to get some rest hey?" she said smiling and heading for the door.

"Yeah I'll be there in a sec just need to get my jacket!" Hetty heard the door to the med bay close as she started to look around. She had just thrown it somewhere when they had rushed Barin in. She cursed to herself and kept looking.

A sound made her stop. She looked up and Barin was still unconscious. It came again. She strained to hear what it was. She shifted her weight and her foot nudged against something. It was the jacket. She stooped to pick it up and was startled by the sound of the door opening.

"Did you forget something?" she shouted as she stood upright. There came no answer. She looked around the med bay. Everything was normal, the strip lights hummed and she could hear Barin breathing, but apart from that she was alone. That's when she heard it again. It seemed to be coming from outside. So she slipped on the jacket and went out into the corridor.

It was empty. She looked up and down the foreboding corridor. The lights out here were few and far between. What little light there was cast creepy shadows up the walls.

_Hetty_

There it was again. Just a whisper. It was like that night at the hospital. It sent chills up and down her spine.

_Hetty_

She heard it again coming from her left, she turned her head to look up the corridor and saw the back of a figure turning the corner at the end.

"Why me?" she said to herself. Slowly she moved into the middle of the corridor. "Hello?"

_Hetty_

"Look I 'aint coming down there to you!"

_Hetty_

"Ok that's it I am coming now and believe me you'd better have a damn good reason for freaking me out. Her footsteps echoed eerily as she purposefully strode up the corridor. When she reached the corner she gingerly peered around the corner. The way ahead was clear, not a soul to be seen. She sighed with relief and that's when she screamed as a hand came down on her shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

Hetty felt her elbow connect with flesh, more importantly someone's sternum. The person let out a gasp of air and fell to the floor winded. She didn't want to look at who or what it was and started running up the corridor ahead.

"Hetty!" a voice croaked feebly. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. The voice and the sternum had belonged to the doctor. Exhaling deeply she went back to see if he was ok.

The doctor struggled to his feet with the aid of the wall. Clutching his stomach with one hand he reached out to Hetty with the other.

"What the hell were you doing sneaking around like that?" she roared. The doctor upturned his tear stained face.

"What? What do you mean sneaking around?" his voice returning to normal.

"You were shouting me; and then when I came out to find you…..you disappeared and then decided to give me the fright of my life!"

"I was with the captain in his office, it's just down the corridor. I couldn't have been me!" he shouted back.

"Don't lie to me! Think it was funny did you!" Hetty had begun shaking.

"Listen there is no way I would do that to you; besides the next time I might end up more than just winded. Have you been taking self defence lessons?" he said wincing.

"Yes!" she said defiantly. She felt awkward, he was obviously telling the truth. "I don't like it here doctor! There is something going on." she said shivering.

"Hmm you could be right! From what the captain told me; Melina has not past history of episodes like we witnessed. She is chief engineer on this station. So why would she want to kill its inhabitants? And why are there only four crew members on such a large station?" he said thoughtfully putting his hands in his pockets.

"Whoa hold on! I'm not staying around to find out!" she said crossing her arms across her chest.

"Ohh come on where is your sense of adventure!" he said bounding around her smiling maniacally.

"I left it in the tardis with my sense of humour!" she frowned. The doctor looked at her with his puppy dog brown eyes. Hetty turned away, and he slipped his hand in hers and she turned to see him smiling like a Cheshire cat. She smiled in return and hand in hand they headed towards the canteen.

Captain Bane DeSilva rubbed his eyes. He was tired. Sleep was a stranger. What had possessed Melina? The crew were getting weirder by the day. He had Melina in the cells and Barin in the med bay. He had buried 5 other crew members that quarter. What the hell was going on? Now he had to explain it all in his report over the comms link. He reached a shaking hand to the comms switch. The screen crackled into life. A vague shape could be made out.

"You're late DeSilva!" an icy female voice emanated from the speaker.

"Yeah yeah had a bit of trouble in engineering!"

"I don't care about your domestic arrangements, so are we on schedule?" he exhaled deeply.

"Well I care, I've lost 5 crew and you haven't sent me any replacements!" he barked.

"It is not my problem if you can't keep a closer eye on them! Have you ever wondered what drove them to it?"

"What are you implying?"

"That it might not be just the loneliness of space that makes a person commit suicide!" she breathed.

"My crew were happy when we came aboard, it was you who said we should bring a shrink on board. She messed with their heads!" he shouted in retort.

"Remember who you are talking to Bane!" a shiver ran down DeSilva's back. She never used his first name. That meant that he had overstepped the mark.

"We are slightly behind schedule."

"This will not do! We need to be back on track. See that work is stepped up."

"Yes M'am those two inspectors that you should help. One has medical…"

"What inspectors? I have sent no one!"

"Then it looks like I have more of a problem than I first thought!"

"I want it sorted DeSilva! DeSilva?"

"Yes?"

"Don't fail me again!" the comm link was terminated at the other end. DeSilva switched off his monitor and reached into the drawer of his desk for his laser pistol. He checked the battery and holstered it. He pushed a button on the console in front of him.

"Computer? Where are the newcomers?" after a slight pause a grating computer voice replied.

"They are currently in the canteen sir!" DeSilva closed communications and headed for the canteen.


	9. Chapter 9

Warning Cliff hanger!!

Part 9

The doctor flicked the light switch. The fluorescent strip lights burst into life illuminating an empty dining hall. There were picnic type metal benches dotted around the room; it looked like it could hold at least 20 people. At one end the doctor noticed a replicator.

"So what is your poison madam? Chips? Coffee? Curry? Though its probably not as nice as yours!" he said swallowing hard. Hetty nudged him in the ribs and laughed.

"I've got a real craving for bacon butties. Do you think they have them in space? Or even pigs for that matter?"

"Well they do have space pigs, lots of trotters." he said descending into the room.

"That's ok then…..hang on how many trotters?" she said following him.

"Hmmm chips I think you can't go far wrong with chips. Chips please." he said speaking into the microphone jutting out from the machine. It made a funny clanking noise not dissimilar to the noise of a hot drinks dispenser on earth and then there was a flash of green light and the chips appeared. Gently the doctor took them from the tray and blew some of the steam off them and savoured the smell.

"Hmmm just how I like them plenty of vinegar and just a dash of salt." he went and sat at one of the tables. Hetty eyed the machine suspiciously and decided to give it a try.

"Ermmm a bacon buttie please?" she asked nervously. The machine seemed to pause to think and then made the noise and the green flash of light and something appeared.

She joined the doctor who briefly looked up from his chips when she sat down. He looked at her plate and nearly choked.

"When you said that the pigs have a lot of trotters I didn't think you meant this many." Hetty pushed her plate in his direction. The doctor grimaced at what he saw before him. It seemed to have a life of its own; a crawling purple mass of tentacles.

"I suggest that you put it into the rubbish chute before it decides to take over the station." he said returning to his chips. Hetty held the plate at arms length as she walked over to the rubbish chute and rammed its contents into it. The doctor very kindly got her some chips and they settled down to eat.

Sometime and many plates of chips later, they both sat feeling rather stuffed. The doctor pushed his plate aside and was about to clear up when there was a cough from the doorway.

"I see you have been making use of the facilities?" DeSilva said.

"Well we were a bit on the peckish side I'm afraid, but we will clean up after ourselves."

"Oh good! Just one more thing?" DeSilva asked drawing his pistol. "Do you mind telling me who the hell you are?" Hetty dropped the tray in her hand as she turned to see the pistol trained on them both.

"Ahh I see that we have a problem." he said pulling at his ear lobe. "Well I was just showing my friend here.." Hetty waved nervously. "around a bit when we caught a distress signal coming from your station. So being the nice people that we are we thought we would come and give you a hand, and looks like we were just in time." as he finished the sentence the warning klaxons sounded. A comm link crackled just inside the door. DeSilva rushed over and answered it.

"What the hell is going on now?" he barked.

"You'd better get to the med bay it's Bowder something's wrong!" DeSilva cursed and turned towards the doctor and Hetty who were now sprinting down the corridor towards the med bay.

The doctor crashed through the med bay door just moments before Hetty. Dr Solomon was vainly trying to hold Bowder down. He was trying to sit up and was screaming.

"What happened?" the doctor asked helping her.

"I don't know, I came back in here after going to my quarters to get some research and he started to have this…. This fit." Hetty circled around behind her and tried to help the doctor. Bowder was struggling and not making sense.

"Bowder listen to me!" the doctor said soothingly. Dr Solomon went to the drugs cabinet and started to prepare a sedative. DeSilva came rushing in and helped to hold Bowder down as Hetty tried to get a vein in his arm. Suddenly Bowder lashed out sending the doctor and the captain flying across the room. He then grabbed a very frightened Hetty by the arm.

"You must stop them! You are the only one who can! You must not let them take it!" Bowder implored her. Hetty could see the fear in his eyes. Something was scaring this poor man witless. She stood frozen looking into his eyes what did he mean.

"Calla you must….." Bowder sunk back on to the bed as Dr Solomon withdrew the needle. Hetty let his arm fall and promptly ran to the sink and vomited.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

Hetty clutched on to the sink. How did he know that name? What had Bowder seen to make him like that. It must have been the poison. She heard groaning to her right. Regaining her composure she went over to check on the doctor. He was slumped against the wall.

"Are you ok?" she asked concerned.

"Feel a little like humpty dumpty but I think I'll live!" he said shakily getting to his feet. "How's the patient?"

"Sedated." Dr Solomon said coming over to check on them.

"What caused it?"

"It must have been a reaction to the poison!" Hetty said quietly. "I'm just going to get some air!" she said heading for the door. The doctor watched her go.

"Let me know if there is any change in his condition, and I think you'd better check on the captain!" he said pointing to the other side of the med bay where the captain was still unconscious.

The doctor found Hetty back in the canteen. She had obviously worked out how to use the replicator as she had a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. He stood watching her from the doorway for a moment then descended the steps and went to sit opposite.

"So are you going to tell me what happened in there?" he asked soothingly. Hetty blew on her coffee and sighed.

"I should be used to dealing with rowdy patients by now."

"That was different." she looked at him.

"How? How was he different to any drug addict I've treated for instance?" she asked defensively.

"Because he knew who you were!……knew who you really were." Hetty looked away.

"I thought I would never hear that name again. She's gone, I can't bring her back even if I wanted to."

"You can't be sure of that."

"I can! There is no trace of her or the abilities. What the hell is going on here doctor?"

"I think its time we checked it out!" he said getting up. Hetty drank some of her coffee and followed him.

The doctor looked around the door to the captains office, the room was empty. He motioned for Hetty to come in. She quietly closed the door behind her.

"What are we looking for?" she said quietly.

"I'm not sure but I'll know when I find it!" he said logging on the computer on the desk in front of him. Hetty looked around the office. There was a notice board that covered most of one wall of the office. It had various computations, leaflets and pictures dotted across it. One picture in particular caught her eye. It must have been a crew photo. She looked at it more closely. She could identify the captain, Bowder, Melina but where was Dr Solomon?

"Were in!" the doctor called. Hetty went to stand behind him.

"So what does it all mean?" she asked reading over his shoulder.

"It seems that they have been mining on the planet below, they are an archaeological dig of some sort. They are looking for something called the sceptre of Orillium." Hetty screwed her eyes up to look at the screen.

"What does it do?" the doctor tutted.

"Give me a chance I haven't got that far down the page yet." he said frantically scrolling. After a few moments they doctor stopped.

"Ohh this is bad! This is real bad! The sceptre gives the beholder the power to control fear. Not only when the victim is awake but also when they are asleep. They have to had come into physical contact with them and they can send them quite literally insane until they kill themselves and only then can they harvest the fear."

"Oh my god so the thing works on nightmares!" the doctor spun the captains chair away from the desk to face her.

"It looks like someone on this station has already found it and is keeping it to themselves. The question is who?"

"How are we going to find out they will have all come into physical contact at some point."

"That is very true! You have really got the hang of this haven't you!" he said in his excited squeaky voice.

"Well I didn't spend all those formative years watching Scooby Doo for nothing you know!" she said with a giggle. "So what do we do now?"

"Well…" he said scratching his head and turning to put the computer back how it was. "We wait until our sceptre carrying friend decides what to do next; because according to the captain's emails there is no one else to replace the others. So they are going to be a bit short on juice." he was just about to switch off the computer when he noticed the homepage. The words 'Soronet Institute' was emblazoned across the page. The company that Manevore was working for. So they even reached out this far into space. A chill ran down his spine and he flicked off the monitor.


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11

Captain DeSilva flinched as Gina dabbed at the cut on his head.

"Owww!" he moaned.

"Stop being such a fuss pot!"

"Damn Barin, I'll kill him when he wakes up!" Gina raised her eyebrows and smiled. DeSilva looked into her deep blue eyes. He reached up and stroked her cheek. She let him. He took her hands in his and held them there.

"We decided not to go into this Bane!" she mumbled.

"Ahh one kiss for the injured man?" he said pulling towards him. Gina moved forward so that she stood between his legs which were hanging over the edge of the bed.

"You are not supposed to take liberties with your staff!" she said softly into his open mouth. Bane reached up and ran his fingers through her soft blonde hair as they shared a passionate kiss.

"Ermm huh?" the doctor coughed from the med bay door. Bane and Gina broke apart. Gina looked at the doctor blushing and moved to check on Barin. Hetty walked over to the captain and studied his face.

"Now don't be getting any ideas I'm just checking for concussion?"

"So now are you going to tell me what the hell is going on and why you ended up on my station?" happy that the captain was ok Hetty stood back against the wall and let the doctor do the talking.

"What is it you actually do on this station anyway?"

"We monitor the atmosphere and climate changes of the planet Windlar Xella 5, the planet below us."

"So you don't go down there much then?"

"No not really! Hang on what has that got to do with you?"

"Well you see on that planet below is; well was a very special sort of wandy pointy thing looks a bit like a sceptre. Have you seen it?"

"What on earth would I want something like that for? Are you suggesting…." Bane said getting to his feet.

"No, no, no nothing like that! But someone on this station has been down there and brought back a souvenir!" the doctor said holding up his hands. "This souvenir is the reason that your crew are killing themselves! I can imagine that your employers are a little concerned that you numbers are dwindling!" Bane stared at the doctor.

"So you are saying that someone aboard my station is a murderer!"

"Catches on quick doesn't he!" the doctor said in his high pitched squeaky voice. He turned to get a reaction from Hetty but she wasn't there.

It was pretty obvious that the captain didn't know who had taken the sceptre so she decided to do some checking of her own. She hadn't seen them take Melina to the cells so she was walking around the station aimlessly trying to find it. She wondered how long it would take the doctor to realise that she wasn't there, and what would he think when he noticed. She remembered him telling her 'First rule: Never go off on your own, you don't know what's around the corner'. Ahh the lecture. They had been taking the guided tour of the Tardis when he had spouted lots of rules and stuff. Never touch the console, only flush one toilet at a time, don't feed the odd looking orange flowers in the cloister room because they bite back, always do the washing up, and no pets. Her head was spinning after them all, how did her expect her to remember them all?

She was just about to give up hope when she heard shouting from the other side of one of the doors. She pushed it gently and stepped in. The corridor in front of her looked like a row of cells like in a police station. The doors all seemed to be made of metal, in fact the walls were metal too. Hetty could hear banging coming from the cell at the end. Gingerly she walked over.

"Hello….. Melina?" the banging stopped.

"Who's there?"

"It's Hetty, I helped Barin…. In engineering!" she said hopefully.

"The stranger? Why are they keeping me in here? Where's DeSilva?"

"You tried to blow the station up! They thought it would be best!" Hetty tried to sound helpful.

"Do you see a button to your right?"

"Yes?"

"If you press it the cell becomes translucent and I will be able to see you!" Hetty laughed.

"How daft do you think I am? You'll be able to get out."

"It turns the cells energy field on! Try it on one of the open ones if you don't believe me!" Hetty took a deep breath and decided to give it a try. She went over to one of the unoccupied cells and pressed the button. The cell did become translucent and Hetty tried to penetrated it but was faced with a wall of energy. She exhaled loudly and returned to Melina's cell and pressed the button.

Melina stood impatiently on the other side. Hetty tried not to stare. Melina was certainly different. She wore no clothes, she had the breasts of a woman and her body curved in all the womanly places but that's where the similarity ended. Her body seemed to be covered in yellow scales. From the top of her head (to what Hetty could only imagine was the back of her legs protruded large black spikes. Her eyes fascinated Hetty. They were large and looked like pools of never-ending blackness and when she blinked she blinked with two sets of eyelids, one pair vertical and one pair horizontal.

"Have you finished staring?" Hetty blushed.

"I'm sorry but I haven't seen your kin….. I mean someone from your planet before." Melina chuckled to herself and smiled.

"We are different to you humans, don't worry I get it from all the new recruits. How's Barin?" she asked concerned.

"He's stable, we had to sedate him he had a reaction to the poison from one of your spines. He was delirious!"

"What? You must let me out, they will kill him!" she said banging on the cell wall.

"Who will kill him? Melina you must let me help you?"

"I don't know! There is someone on this station who shouldn't be here!"

"Who? Think back do you remember meeting all the new crew when you came aboard?"

"Yes of course I do! We all met in the canteen for briefing except Dr Solomon!"

"Why was she not there?"

"She? Dr Solomon is a man! Dr Michael Solomon!" Hetty was reeling, the Dr Solomon she had seen was most certainly a woman. What was making Melina see a man.

"You're certain that Solomon is a man!"

"Of course I am he's been here from the start." Hetty moved towards the panel.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm putting your cell back to normal, I have to go and warn the doctor!" Hetty began pushing the button next to the cell door. It wouldn't' work. Why was Melina so calm and quiet. She decided to push it with the palm of her hand.

Hetty screamed in pain. Melina had pierced the control panel making it short out; but with it she had managed to pierce through Hetty's hand as well. Hetty sank back against the wall holding her hand in agony.

"Sorry but I have to warn the others and get Barin out of here!"

"What about me?" Hetty croaked.

"What about you stranger?" Melina started for the door. Hetty mustered up all her strength and lunged at her. Somehow she managed to tackle her to the floor without spiking herself. The poison was now starting to take effect and she was woozy. Melina shook her off.

"Sorry but I have to do this!" she shot one more of her spines and it hit Hetty in the shoulder. Hetty reached out a hand to her and passed out.


	12. Chapter 12

Part 12

The doctor exhaled deeply as he stomped up the corridor in search of Hetty. He'd turned his back for a few minutes and she had gone. The captain was hot on his heels he had mumbled something about not wanting a strange woman wandering around his station.

"Hetty?" the doctor shouted.

"What is her problem? Why would she go wandering off like that?" the captain asked still dabbing at the cut on his head.

"Well that's what they do, I ask them not to go wandering off and like children they do the opposite." he said peering around a door.

"I very much doubt she'll be in there! That's the laundry." the doctor looked at him and smiled.

"So what is it with you two are….." the doctor put a hand up to stop him. The sound of running could be heard at the other end of the corridor. They looked to see the blurred outline of someone running up the other corridor.

"Hetty?" the doctor shouted and bounded up the corridor.

The doctor and the captain skidded to a halt at the intersection of the two corridors. They looked up and down and there was nothing to be seen. The doctor stood with his hands in his pockets. It was then he heard the moan coming from the room to his right. He ran into the cell area and found Hetty lying on the floor. He gently rolled her over and held her head in the crook of his arm. She was deathly pale sweating and shaking. He felt for a pulse in her neck and found one but it was very weak.

"Hetty can you hear me?" he said soothingly. There was no reply. The doctor looked down at her. She had a spike embedded in her right shoulder and another in her hand.

"Doctor Melina's gone!" the captain said coming over. He looked up at him his face full of malice.

"Find her and I want to know why she tried to kill us all and why she saw fit to do this to my friend?"

The doctor gently picked up Hetty and carried her out of the door towards the med bay.

Dr Solomon was tidying up the med bay as the doctor burst through the doors with an unconscious Hetty in his arms. He rushed over and placed her on the bed that was next to Barins.

"She has been attacked by Melina, I don't know how long the poison has been in her system. Please you have to help her I can't let her die again!" the doctor said worriedly. Dr Solomon looked at him confused. What did he mean again.

"Melina has broken out of the cells and is at large on the station, there is no telling what she will do. Doctor I need you help to find her!" DeSilva said taking his arm.

"I can't leave her!"

"I will do all I can but if we don't find Melina we could all be in danger!" Dr Solomon said soothingly. The doctor scratched the back of his head.

"I guess your right! Right Captain lead the way!" he said gesturing to the door. "I want you to take good care of her!" he said to Dr Solomon and taking Hetty's hand.

"I will I promise!" the doctor smiled and let Hetty's hand fall back to where it was and followed the captain outside.

Hetty turned over in her bed. She felt cosy and safe. She afforded herself a glance at her alarm clock. The clock wasn't there. She sat bolt upright in her bed. Why could she not see the rest of her room? It was so dark it was difficult to make out anything else but her legs and hands. She threw back the covers and put her feet on the cold ground. It was soft at least. She stood up and decided to venture forward a little. She felt the material of her clothes brush against her skin as she moved. So at least she wasn't naked. She stopped and turned around she couldn't see her bed anymore. She felt panic start to well up inside of her. She swallowed hard.

"Hello?" she shouted into the darkness. Her voice echoed around the emptiness. She heard a sound, it was the sound of somebody's feet shuffling, then they were footsteps. They seemed to be getting closer.

"Hello? Who is that? Please let me know who you are?" the footsteps were getting louder but she could still see no one. She felt a cold breeze on her back and the footsteps stopped. She sensed the presence of someone behind her, she could hear them breathing. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Slowly she turned around and opened her eyes. What stood before her made her catch her breath. It was Norman her father.


	13. Chapter 13

Warning fluff and some disturbing themes.

Part 13

Hetty stumbled backwards. What was going on? The man who stood before her was dead. He had been for 6 years.

"**Don't you have anything to say to your old dad?"** she could smell the alcohol and cigarettes on his breath.

"Your dead! We buried you!" she said shakily.

**"Oh I know you and that witch you call your mother! You left me for dead!"** Norman said taking a step towards her. Hetty began to shake. The room she was in seemed to be closing in on her, the air felt heavy and she started to feel the panic rise up in her chest.

"**The worst thing we ever did was to adopt you! You ruined our lives**!" Hetty felt warm salty tears stream down her face. Why was he saying this, Pam had always told her that she was the one thing that completed their family.

"Why? Why are you telling me this now?" she sobbed.

**"You are such a disappointment to us!"** a new voice had joined the conversation. Hetty looked to her left to see Pam come out of the darkness.

"Mum?"

**"You are not fit to call me that!"** Pam spat. Hetty felt her world crashing down before her eyes. Her mum, the one person she loved unconditionally was now breaking her.

"Why mum please, I love you and I know that you love me too!" she pleaded, she took a step towards her and felt Norman's hand connect with her cheek. It sent her reeling. Hetty cowered in shock.

**"You are the one who doesn't deserve to live! I know what you are! I've seen you! What do you think your doctor will think when he knows what you have seen in his future!"** Hetty looked at Norman. The air around her seemed to become heavy. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something was happening. She had trouble focusing.

"He will never know! I I…….can't tell him!" she gasped.

"**You are a killer Hett you always will be!"** Anna stepped from the darkness.

"Not you as well!" Hetty sank to her knees. Her head felt as if it were going to explode. She put her head in her hands.

"**You don't deserve to live**!" the three of them chanted. Hetty felt the heat rise in her body. Her eyes felt like they were on fire. Her breathing was ragged.

"Stop!" she roared.

"**You don't deserve to live**!" came the chant again. She could contain it no longer. She threw her head back and screamed. The purple light engulfed her again. She could see the three figures in front of her for what they really were, just apparitions.

"**You don't deserve to live**!" they were coming closer.

"Oh but I do!" she said getting to her feet. The energy coursed through her again. She hadn't felt like this since Gavanair. "I'm here for a reason! You are just figments of my imagination! You are not real!" she shouted. The three stood still for a moment.

"**You are not to live**!" they chanted.

"I still have a life to live and I need to get back to it!" she said standing her ground.

"**We will be watching you! You will see us again witch**!" Norman sneered and the three of them disappeared. Hetty took in short ragged breaths and then collapsed.

Her eyes fluttered open. She could hear music. Hetty found herself lying on a plush sofa in a white marble corridor. She gently sat up. What had just happened? Where was she? Was she dreaming? She sat for a moment perched on the edge of the seat. Hetty rubbed her eyes and yawned, she felt so tired.

"Well Hett you can't stay here all day!" she looked down at herself. She was wearing the twilight blue dress that she had worn at Anna's wedding. "At least your dressed!" she smoothed out the skirt and ventured off to see where the music was coming from.

Although she was wearing her best dress for some reason in this dream she had teamed it with her monster feet slippers. She was having to walk very carefully because novelty slippers and marble floors don't mix. As she rounded every corner the music got louder. She was getting tired of going around the maze of corridors and was just about to give up as she rounded the corner to find a set of ornate wood doors at the end of the corridor. The music seemed to be coming from the other side. So with a sigh she walked over to investigate.

She paused with her hand on the door handle. What if there was some kind of monster on the other side? Or if those things that looked like Norman, Pam and Anna were there.

"Hetty its your dream you decide!" she closed her eyes and opened the door.

Hetty stood with her back to the door taking in the sight before her. She had stepped into an enormous ballroom. There were tables dotted around and she could see people drinking at them. From the ceiling there hung the most enormous chandelier she had ever seen. It's crystals made the light dance on the ceiling. She walked further into the room. A waiter walked past and smiled. She saw and empty table and decided to sit and watch the people dancing. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. She felt at ease. The couples twirled and spun to the music it was almost hypnotizing. Hetty was brought back to reality by someone coughing.

"Oh sorry I was totally in another place there!" she looked up to see the waiter she had seen earlier smiling at you.

"There is a gentleman who has expressed the desire to dance with you."

"With me? But I don't know anyone!"

"He certainly knows you, you are Miss Davies?" he asked politely.

"Yes."

"He asked to me to tell you to meet him by the large palm plant over there if you would like to dance."

"Erm ok thank you." she said looking towards the rather large plant on the other side of the dance floor.

"Miss!" he said smiling and walking away to another table. Hetty sat in contemplation for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders and headed for the plant, making sure that she didn't slip in her slippers on the way.

Hetty drummed her fingers on her arm impatiently. The waiter must have been pulling a fast one; she had been stood there for at least 10 minutes and no stranger. With a sigh she decided that she had been stood up and turned to go back to her original spot in the hope that she woke up. As she turned she found her way blocked by a tall dark and handsome stranger in a tux.

"Doctor!" she said surprised.

"Sorry got cornered by one of the other women." he said looking rather embarrassed.

"Exactly how many women did you ask to dance?" she said with a wry smile.

"Ohh about a dozen; but you were the only one to come!" he said with a warm smile. Hetty laughed. "You look amazing love the slippers!"

"I'll have you know that they are the height of fashion!" Hetty said laughing. The doctor offered her his hand.

"So? Will you dance with me?" he asked smiling. Hetty looked at him, he looked even more handsome than she had remembered last time she had seen him in a tux.

"How can I refuse!" she said taking his hand.

The doctor led them on to the dance floor. The band played on and they danced and laughed for what seemed like hours, lost in that moment in time.

"I'm getting tired." Hetty said breathlessly.

"Just this one last dance, you will like it I promise." he said soothingly. She looked into his puppy dog eyes.

"Ok this last one ok!" he smiled and put his hand on her waist and took the other in his. They started to dance.

Hetty could feel every note played in her entire body. She felt intoxicated. It felt as if there was no one else in that room, but her and the doctor. He guided her every step. He looked deep into her eyes. He seemed to be looking into her very being. He smiled at her. They stopped dancing. Everyone else around them carried on. Hetty stood breathless.

"Why did we stop?"

"I want to look at you?"

"Pardon?"

"I never really noticed until now how beautiful you are." he said taking her hands.

"Really! I bet you have a girl in every solar system." Hetty said jokingly. The doctor reached up and stroked her cheek. Hetty closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his fingers brushing her face.

"Doctor….I!" he put his finger to her lips.

"Please don't spoil it! I want this night to be special." he said pulling her towards him. She caught her breath as she felt his heart beats against her chest. The doctor cupped her chin and studied her entire face. His eyes twinkled in the light. Hetty remembered it as the look of happiness from the night she had agreed to go with him.

"We can't!" she whispered.

"Shhh now who says!" he said stroking her hair. She moaned.

"I can't!" she said trying to pull away but he wasn't letting her go. He put his hands around her waist and rested his forehead on hers.

"Hetty sometimes you just have to give love a chance!" he whispered and moved his mouth to meet hers. Hetty was taken aback at first and then shuddered as she lost herself to the moment.


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14

Melina stopped to catch her breath. She placed her hand against the wall to support herself. She hoped that she had outrun the captain and the man who called himself the doctor. She had to get to the med bay to get Barin. Coughing she started to walk carefully along the corridor.

She remembered the weekend that she had spent with Barin. They went to Alpha Minor and rented a house on the beach. They only left the beach house to go for supplies and spent most of the time in bed. Every night they watched the two suns set over the horizon. The skies became full of stars and on a clear night you could see all the way to Alpha Major. That had been the best week of her life and it had taken at least two weeks for her to get the sand out of her underwear.

She gingerly walked up to the med bay door. Melina leant her ear against the door to listen for sounds of movement on the other side. She could hear the constant bleep of the monitors but nothing else. She pushed the door open and saw Dr Solomon watching Barin. Melina closed the door behind her and that made the doctor turn around. Dr Solomon gasped.

Captain DeSilva was rapidly losing his faith in the doctors idea of checking out the cargo hold. He stood leaning against an oil drum nursing his bruised ego watching the doctor circling his craft and giving it an affectionate pat at regular intervals.

"Well I don't think she's down here!" he shouted. The doctor looked at him confused.

"I know!" he said scratching his head. "I needed time to think."

"What?" DeSilva roared. "You have dragged me half way around the station to have time to think!"

"Shhh." the doctor said putting a finger to his lips and placing his head up against the Tardis door. After some moments of listening to the door he reached into his pocket and pulled out his horn rimmed glasses and spun around so quickly to confront the captain that it made him stand to attention.

"Something is very wrong here!" the doctor said putting his hands in his trouser pockets and scowling. "The question is what?"

"You tell me!"

"Somebody has been to the planets surface and brought back something they shouldn't have! Who has been to the planets surface?"

"Barin, Melina, Jackson and Hobbs. They were all part of the survey team. Why?" the doctor looked confused.

"No one went alone only in research parties?"

"Yes!"

"Did you ever go down there?"

"No! Why would I go down there the station is my responsibility!"

"That would include the crew though would it not?" the doctor was losing his temper.

"Yes! Are you trying to tell me my job Doctor!" DeSilva said menacingly.

"No not at all, I'm just trying to save the handful of crew left on this god forsaken place!" DeSilva stood down. A thought struck him.

"Wait a minute. Dr Solomon had to go down to the surface once to look at an injured member of the research party." the doctor stopped mid pacing with an extremely grave look on his face.

"Who was it?" he spat.

"I…I can't remember!" DeSilva fidgeted he was scared. How could this man scare him. He looked into the doctors face and saw the wisdom of ages and that is what scared him.

"Think hard man all our lives may depend on it!" the doctor said taking DeSilva's shoulders. DeSilva thought again and then a look of realisation spread across his face.

"It was Melina! Yes it was Melina!" the doctor reeled in shock and then sprinted from the cargo hold towards the med bay.

Hetty drew back breathless. The doctor was smiling at her. She couldn't help but smile back. Her body was on fire. She looked into his deep brown eyes and felt if she looked for too long she would lose herself.

"Are you ok?" he said softly.

"Yeah better than I've ever been!" she whispered. The doctor placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Do you fancy getting some air? I don't know about you but it's getting a little to crowded for me." He let her out of his embrace and offered her his arm. She felt like a teenager sneaking off with her first boyfriend. She slipped her arm in his and they walked towards the patio doors that led outside.

The doors led on to a garden area. For the first time Hetty noticed that they were on a cliff top. She could hear the breaking waves beneath her. She shuddered as they walked towards the cliffs edge.

"Are you cold?" the doctor asked concerned.

"A little!" he smiled and took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. He stood behind her and put his arms around her waist. Hetty closed her eyes and leant into his embrace. She felt safe. The doctor's warm breath made the hairs on her neck stand on end. He started to gently nuzzle her neck. She sighed. His hand moved to her shoulder and she caught her breath. He traced her collar bone to the strap of her dress and slid it down her shoulder. Hetty's eyes shot open and she pulled away and turned to look at him. He looked shocked.

"What are you doing?" she said pulling up the strap of her dress.

"I thought that's what you wanted!" he said taking a step closer.

"No! What on earth gave you that idea?" she said shocked. The doctor threw his hands in the air.

"I've seen the way you look at me. You know that you can't resist me!" he said boasting. Hetty laughed at him.

"You are kidding me! You flatter yourself pal! I've slapped men for less than that!" she said making to go back inside. The doctor grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"You women your all the same, lead you on and then when you get serious they walk away! Rose she was the same! Just as it got interesting she went and spoilt it all by getting trapped in her parallel world!" he said enraged.

"Now I know you don't mean that! Look if this is some kind of dream I should have woken up when you grabbed me. So what the hell is going on?" she said scared.

"Oh no Hetty this is your nightmare!" the doctor said eyes flashing with anger. She struggled against his grip but it only got tighter. Desperate she bit his hand. The doctor released her yelling in pain. Hetty tried to get back inside but her legs were like rubber and wouldn't move. The doctor grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground in front of him. Hetty sobbed as he bared down on her.

"You are a freak and a killer Hetty you don't deserve to live! I should have left you dead on Gavanair!" the doctor spat at her. Hetty turned her tear stained face to him. "Ohh look the poor little thing she is crying look!" he said talking over his shoulder. Hetty looked up to see the apparitions of Norman, Pam and Anna also towering over her.

"**You don't belong here! You need to go Hetty! You need to end it all. You have caused nothing but pain and suffering**." Pam said to her in a motherly tone.

"**You see doctor they're all the same! Offer it to you on a plate and then come over all shy and timid**." Norman said laughing. The doctor laughed with him.

"Why do you think I go through so many!" Hetty lashed out to sweep the doctors leg from underneath him but he jumped back.

"Ooh seems there is a little fire left in this one Norman, seems you didn't beat it all out of her after all!" the doctor said laughing. Hetty made to get up so the doctor helped by dragging her up by the wrist and holding her arms. He glared at her and then turned her around to face the cliffs edge again.

"You see Hett you don't kiss as well as Derra and you never will!" he whispered in her ear. That was when Hetty's world came crashing down around her ears.

"So be a good girl and end it all! Your body is on that medical trolley back on the station and all you need to do is throw yourself off this cliff and it will all be over! You won't feel a thing. It's true, that if you die in your dreams you do in the real world. You're not wanted anymore, I've had my share of you so go!" the doctor said giving her a gentle shove towards the cliff edge. Hetty sobbed, she turned around to take one last look at them all. They stood facing her unmoving and stony faced. She had lost, she couldn't do anymore. She smiled at Pam and threw herself back over the cliff edge.


	15. Chapter 15

Part 15

"Are you trying give me a heart attack?" Gina said over her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry but you weren't the one stuck down there waiting for some idiot to come and spring them. How's the patient?" 

"I'm not sure, did you have to hit her with a second spike?"

"She was going to turn me in, I had to defend myself!" Melina moaned as she came to stand next to Gina. Dr Solomon stood over the prone body of Hetty. 

"Her breathing is irregular, she must be having one hell of a dream!"

"What about Barin?"

"What about him?"

"You promised, you promised that we could get off this thing together!" Melina said taking Solomon's arm. She ignored her. "Anyway speak to me properly, not in that…. That thing!" Melina snorted in disgust. Solomon gave her a look of pure hatred.

"Do you think I like being like this! I had to use this primitive cloaking device or we would never have got this far!" Gina touched the spot where a wedding ring once sat and the true form was revealed. The figure who stood before Melina was her brother Orlan. He was taller and his spines were a bright blue.

"We need that sceptre fully charged or we lose everything!" Orlan hissed.

"I…. I'm not sure I want to carry on with this anymore. You said that there were only to be a couple of essences needed!"

"You are in this as much as I am we need complete the mission or…." he paused mid sentence.

"Or what?" Melina cried.

"Or they won't stop until they find us!" Orlan moved over to the cabinet at the med bay and took out a long green cylindrical implement. He moved it from hand to hand feeling the power within it. Melina backed away.

"Get on with it! I don't like being near that thing!" she said obviously frightened. Orlan smiled a cruel smile. 

"I just hope that her essence is enough or your friend Barin over there will be next!" he said with a sneer. Orlan placed one hand on Hetty's forehead and held the sceptre in the other. He began to chant and the sceptre began to glow. The once prone body of Hetty began to react by her closed eyes rapidly moving and sweat formed on her brow. She began muttering, and the sceptre glowed even more. Melina began to back towards the door. Suddenly the med bay door flew open and the doctor and DeSilva rushed in. DeSilva pushed Melina to the floor and covered her with his laser pistol. The doctor rushed over to try and stop the ritual hoping that he wasn't too late. Orlan was oblivious to what was going on around him. The doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the sceptre. It flew out of Orlan's hand and the force threw him against the wall. The doctor stood worriedly over Hetty. She had stopped moving. He felt for her pulse and he found a weak one. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she screamed. Then again she was still.

"Think, think!" the doctor said pacing in parralel to the bed.

"Doctor what are we going to do with them now? Where's Solomon!" the doctor just stared at him.

"I need to think how I'm going to get her back! So do shut up!" he raged. Then the thought struck him. It was chancy but he hoped he could pull it off.

"Captain I am going into Hetty's mind under no circumstances do you break this link! Do you understand? If you break it; it will kill us both!" DeSilva nodded dumbstruck. The doctor exhaled deeply and placed his fingers on both of Hetty's temples, closed his eyes and tried to contact Hetty.

Was this what death was like? Falling in slow motion. She could see every facet of rock on the cliff face as she fell. Her whole world had crumbled before her eyes. She didn't even know if it was a dream or reality anymore. She didn't really care. She was just an insignificant part of it all that didn't deserve to live. Well she wasn't not for much longer anyway. She braced herself for impact on the jagged rocks at the foot of the cliff, but it didn't come.

The doctor had seen everything that had happened on the cliff top. He couldn't hear what they were saying only that a version of himself and what seemed to be Anna Pam and another man were trying to get Hetty to jump off the cliff. Whatever they said it had the desired effect because Hetty was now floating down the cliff face towards him. He ran to the spot where she would land and deftly caught her. Unfortunately he didn't get the thank you he was hoping for.

"You…you…. Come to have your wicked way after all have you?" she spluttered as the doctor put her down on the sandy beach. He could feel the wet sand starting to seep into his boots. This dream was pretty vivid. He found out how vivid when Hetty planted a right hook on his cheek. The doctors head was thrown to one side with the impact. It caused him to be off balance and he landed with a squelch in the wet sand.

"Owww!" he said with more than just his ego bruised.

"You make me sick! You men your all the same out for one thing!" Hetty spat as she kicked wet sand at him.

"Hetty listen…please! That wasn't me!"

"Oh got an evil twin have we! Don't come the innocent with me!" the doctor struggled to his feet narrowly avoiding another blow.

"Hetty this isn't real!"

"I don't know what is real anymore!" she shouted over the crashing waves. The tide was coming in.

"I promise! It wasn't me!" he said grabbing her hands and pulling her towards him she struggled, weeping uncontrollably she tried to pull away but the doctor's hold on her was too strong.

"Those things you said… they were evil!" she wept.

"It wasn't me!" he said soothingly. Hetty stopped and looked into his eyes.

"Then prove it! What colour bra was I missing when I left home?" she raged suddenly.

"I don't think this is the right time!" the doctor said feeling decidedly uncomfortable.

"Tell me!" she said beating her fists on his chest. He had his arms around her back holding her there for dear life. He looked down into her pained eyes and whispered.

"Pink!" Hetty smiled.

"You are my doctor!" she reached up and touched his nose, the doctor broke into a broad grin. Hetty removed her finger and traced his lips with it. She then replaced her finger with her lips and they shared a passionate embrace ankle deep in seawater. 

Hetty drew back first flushed and breathless. The doctor was grinning from ear to ear.

"Are you satisfied that I'm me now?" he asked sheepishly.

"I'm not quite sure perhaps we'd better do it again to make sure!" Hetty said giggling and moving up close to the doctor again. The doctor let her put her arms around his neck and he placed his hands on her hips an afforded himself a glance behind her.

"I think that will have to wait, we've got company!" the doctor said rather worried. Sensing his fear Hetty turned around. Coming up the beach looked to be an army of Imperian guard all heavily armed.

"Where the hell did they come from?" she panicked.

"How should I know it's your dream! Run!" he said taking her hand and running up the beach.

"How are we supposed to get out of this?" she shouted trying to keep up with him.

"I'm not sure!"

"Well you got yourself in here you should be able to get us out again!" the doctor stopped dead. 

"Hetty you're a genius!" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a spoon. He looked at Hetty. "I was hoping for my screwdriver!" he looked crestfallen.

"Try your other pockets!" Hetty said nervously looking at the rapidly gaining horde of guards.

"Can you imagine one… about so big… can open portals?" Hetty thought about it and the doctor produced a small Phillips head screwdriver from another pocket.

"Not quite!" 

"Oh bugger, hang on….. Pinch me?" the doctor looked puzzled. "Go on pinch me? The pain will wake me up!" the doctor smiled and pinched the back of her hand.

"Owww you didn't have to ……." Hetty faded from sight. The doctor smiled and then noticed he was still there and the guards were almost upon him. It was then he remembered he had to break the psychic link.


	16. Chapter 16

Part 16

Hetty's eyes shot open and she vainly tried to sit up. A pain ripped through her shoulder and she screamed as she managed to get upright. The doctor stood at her side seemingly in a trance. She tried to steady her breathing and to stop the room from spinning. The doctor was still breathing but motionless. He was still in the psychic link. How on earth was she going to break it? Hetty smiled and slowly slid off the bed and stood uneasily before the doctor and slapped him across the face.

The doctor stood on the windswept beach frantically rummaging through his pockets. The sonic screwdriver had to be in there somewhere. The Imperian guard were almost upon him; he breathed deeply. He had travelled for hundreds of years and fought many enemies and here he was going to die in some humans poisoned dream. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. It was then he felt the sudden pain in the right side of his face. The doctor opened his eyes and was about to scream in pain when he felt himself being dragged back to reality.

The doctor returned to the med bay just in time to catch Hetty before she ended up a heap on the floor.

"What was that for?" he said supporting her.

"I had to get you out of there somehow!" she said weakly. The doctor smiled and looked at her injured shoulder.

"You need that attending to."

"I thought the other doctor was doing that?"

"Well it seems that she… I mean he was the root of the problem." Hetty's knees buckled again as she fought back the darkness of unconsciousness and she gave the doctor a puzzled look.

"Let me get you back to the Tardis and I'll tell you all about it! Can you walk?" he said supporting her.

"I will certainly try!" she said feebly.

Captain De Silva had pulled Melina to her feet. She was crying.

"Can I leave this to you captain I have to attend to the wounded!" the doctor said with a wry smile. DeSilva smiled and let go of Melina.

"Sure doctor I'll put these two in the cells and radio for support from the company." the doctor wrinkled his nose at the thought of that. They headed for the door. As they reached it the doctor turned back. He made sure that Hetty as safely propped up against the door and went to retrieve the sceptre.

Hetty felt the world start to spin, all that she saw before her was happening in slow motion. The doctor had turned and smiled making sure she was ok. In the distance Hetty could see someone getting up from the floor behind the be she had once occupied. She strained to see who it was. It looked like Melina but she was standing over Barin. Who was this stranger? Whoever it was they had the sceptre. Hetty shouted to the doctor as her grip on the doorframe was loosening. The doctor turned sharply to see Orlan getting up. He seemed different. No he couldn't have, no one could absorb that much energy. Orlan's form kept shifting, the air was charged with static. Hetty screamed at the doctor to get out of there. He seemed to way up the situation and grabbed Melina, DeSilva was already heading for the door. Hetty collapsed to the floor.

She could hear worried muffled voices. She had passed out, so where on earth was she now? Slowly she opened her eyes and the console room swam into view. She groaned as she sat up. The doctor rushed over.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned. He had come to kneel in front of her.

"Did you get the number of the bus that hit me?" Hetty said weakly smiling at him. The doctor laughed. "So is that it do we now ride off into the sunset victorious?" she said catching sight of Melina and the captain on the other side of the time rotor. The doctor shifted uneasily.

"Not quite, we still have the issue of the sceptre! Melina was just telling us a very interesting story weren't you!" he hissed. Melina froze she was visibly scared.

"I can't be held responsible for what my brother has done!" she said shakily.

"Your brother is responsible for the deaths of your fellow crew members and nearly killed my friend; and if we don't see to it he will be the cause of our deaths too!" the doctor raged.

"What did I miss?" Hetty stood up shakily. The doctor sighed.

"When I hit Orlan with my sonic screwdriver it well… it sort of made him absorb some if not all the power that he had collected." Hetty gasped in disbelief.

"So you are telling me that her brother…" she said pointing at Melina " is running amok around this space station a walking nightmare?" The doctor nodded gravely.

"Why and what happened to doctor Solomon?"

"Ahhh well that's where it gets ingenious! Melina I think that you can enlighten us on that one!" he said sitting in the pilots seat. Hetty sat painfully next to him.

"Well?" she said with an air of disgust. Melina swallowed hard and walked to stand in front of them.

"Orlan and I are wanted back on our home planet. We were scavengers, stealing, deception anything we could turn our hand to. That was until Orlan went to far and murdered a woman in cold blood. He had wooed her in hope of getting her money and I had worked for her. When she found out that he had swindled others she threatened to turn us in. Orlan strangled her and we have been on the run ever since. The penalty on my planet is execution, no reprieve, no trial. Soronet sent someone to help us. He told us of the sceptre, his employers wanted it and were prepared to do anything to get it. They offered us a safe haven, a new life and set us up in employment on here. They intercepted Dr Solomon before she boarded and gave Orlan a cloaking device and he took her place. The mission was to retrieve the sceptre and power it up before meeting with the Soronet representative." the doctor and Hetty sat in silence.

"You were willing to kill innocent people so that you can get off the hook?" Hetty hissed as she moved too quickly. Melina just hung her head.

"So what do we do know?" DeSilva asked as he tapped the console. The doctor had been sitting with his head in his hands. He slowly raised his head and he was smiling.

"Were going to send Orlan for a little ride!" he said jumping to his feet excitedly. "Melina I need you to find your brother and lead him back here!" he bounded around the console and found his tool box. He withdrew a sort of megaphone type device and began to attach it to his screwdriver. Hetty sat confused.

"So what are you planning on doing to him when he gets here?" Hetty asked.

"This!" he said waving the finished device at her. "This, if I just get it on the right frequency will draw all the sceptre's energy back out of Orlan and into this little box here!" he said excitedly attaching a small black box to the instrument.

"What if you get the wrong frequency?" DeSilva asked concerned. The doctor looked hurt.

"I won't!"

"So what am I to do?"

"You are my backup…. Just in case."

"Doctor?" the doctor carried on working. "Doctor?" Hetty shouted. He looked up at her. "What am I supposed to do?" the doctor pulled at his ear lobe and walked over to her.

"Hetty I need you to stay here. You are in no condition to help and I can't look after you out there."

"I can do something, even if its hold your coat or that thing!" she said pointing at the contraption in his hand.

"Not this time, I need you in the wings!" Hetty tried to stand up but her legs would not let her.

"Ok!" she said defeated. The doctor grinned his boyish grin and turned on his heels and bolted for the door closely followed by the captain.


	17. Chapter 17

Part 17

"So where do you think he is?" the captain asked the doctor as they made their way cautiously back to the med bay. "He could be anywhere on this station by now!" The doctor was adding the finishing touches to the contraption he had haphazardly lashed to his sonic screwdriver.

"Perhaps he got peckish….. I don't know!" the doctor roared impatiently. "He won't be far he will want to get more power for the sceptre, for himself." Melina was eerily quiet.

"Do you think he will hurt Barin?"

"He was in there with him so he would probably be first choice." Melina inhaled sharply. "I'm so sorry!" the doctor said soothingly. Melina broke into a run down the corridor.

"Wait that won't do any good!" he shouted. "Women!" the doctor huffed and ran after her.

Hetty sat nursing her bandaged hand. So this was what it was really like to be with him. Sat on the bench injured. It was her own fault she had gone off and got herself nearly killed. The doctor hadn't said as much but she knew he was disappointed in her. Painfully she stood up. There was a mad man running about the station, he was going to get himself killed. Was the doctor immune to the sceptre? What if he wasn't? It could turn him mad enough to kill himself. She would be stuck there on this god forsaken station; waiting for her turn to throw herself into space. Hetty slammed her fist against the console. Cursing to herself she looked at the bandage. It had started to come loose, she unravelled it ready to re-apply it. She gasped and turned her hand over and over. It was healed, not a blemish, no blood; nothing. Panic was starting to take its hold. How could that be possible? She had used up her power bringing herself back to life. She gingerly touched the wound on her shoulder and flinched. That was still healing. What weird crap was going on in this place? First Barin knowing her real name and now this? She breathed deeply and looked to the door. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the view screen had flickered into life. It was showing the cargo hold. She could see a figure stumble into view. It was Barin. He was unsteady on his feet, he must still be affected by the sedative. She had to help him, but she had told the doctor she would stay put. If she left him there he would probably do himself an injury. She closed her eyes and stood for a moment. Then feeling slightly better she headed for the door.

They stood in the doorway of what was the med bay. The doors were in pieces at their feet. Melina stood rooted to the spot. The light fittings hung from the ceiling, the cupboards were smashed, the beds overturned and glass strewn everywhere. There was no sign of Orlan or Barin. Melina slowly walked into the room and picked up Barin's jacket. She held it close to her and started to weep. The doctor came to stand next to her.

"There is a strong possibility that he could be still alive." he said solemnly. She turned to look at him.

"You think after all this he would let him live!" she cried. The doctor hung his head. "It's not what you want to hear right now but we still have to find Orlan and stop him."

Melina savoured the smell of Barin's jacket.

"I loved him. He was the only person who saw me, not the alien. He didn't care that I was different." she sobbed. The doctor smiled and thought of how many people felt the same way about him. The com link in the doorway gave a pitiful groan. DeSilva pushed the button so speak.

"Who is it?"

"Captain its Hetty, you'd better get to the cargo hold we've got company!"

"Hetty were on our way stay safe until we get there." the doctor interrupted. "I thought I told you to stay in the tardis!"

"Doctor now is not the time for a rollicking, you can do that later just get down here!" DeSilva grabbed a weeping Melina and ran down the corridor after the doctor.

Barin had managed to steer himself to the cargo hold. He couldn't bare this torment any more. He had to end it. There was an airlock there they used for planet fall he would throw himself out there. He stumbled toward the big blue box that stood towards the back of the hold. It was then he heard the whisper.

'**Barin**' it crept into his very being. The word cut through his senses like a blade. He turned to where the noise had come from but saw no one. His feet carried on moving propelled by sheer fear.

'**Barin**' the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Again he looked behind him but saw nothing. He knew he hadn't far to go now and carried on. His way was blocked by Ciera.

She stood in front of him in her uniform. Her long blonde hair framed her youthful face. She smiled at him.

"**Where are you going**?" Barin couldn't believe his eyes, she had died he found her body.

"I… I; you're dead!" he shouted shaking his head to try and clear it.

"**No that was all a bad dream**." Ciera said taking a step towards him. Barin backed away.

"We sent your body into space, with the preacher." he shouted.

"**Please Barin I'm alone I can't find anyone, help me**!" Ciera implored. Barin rubbed his eyes, the poison must still be in his body.

"No your dead I found you! You're not real!" he cried running past her towards the airlock.

Hetty was hiding behind some barrels on the far side of the cargo hold. She had let the doctor know that Barin was here, but now Barin was shouting at this woman who had followed him in. He was trying to get away from her saying that she was dead and how could she be here. Hetty soon realised that the woman was actually Orlan trying to extract Bain's fear to energise the sceptre. She had to wait for the others to get here she couldn't tackle him on her own. Barin was visibly shaken and had now made a bee line for the far corner. Orlan was in hot pursuit.

"Orlan please!" Melina shouted from the entrance. This made him stop his pursuit of Barin. Just for a moment he turned back to his original form. He smiled at Melina and pulled out a gun and shot her.

Barin heard the shot ring out and ran to her side. He cradled her head gently and wept. Melina looked up at him and smiled.

"I couldn't lose you!" she said weakly.

"Please stay with me!" the doctor and DeSilva came rushing over closely followed by Hetty. "Melina please don't leave me!" she was bleeding profusely from the wound in her chest. The doctor knelt down and examined her and gravely shook his head. Barin was weeping uncontrollably.

"We will always have Alpha Minor!" she whispered and gave her last breath. Barin held her close and wept. The doctor stood and moved to confront Orlan but he wasn't there.

DeSilva was running back down the corridor to his office. He reached the door and threw it open wide; then he flicked on the comms link and it hissed into life.

"Yes?" a male voice crackled from the other end.

"I need to speak with the Overseer!"

"She is out of town."

"I need to speak to her damn it!"

"She is not here!"

"I have a situation here!" DeSilva bellowed.

"She is unreachable!" he drew a deep breath.

"Then tell her that her little experiment has gone wrong!" with that he closed communication.

Hetty tried to comfort Barin but he was inconsolable. She stood and walked over to the doctor.

"So what do we do now?"

"He can't have got far, he'll be back."

"Why did he kill his own sister?"

"The greed and the power have consumed him! Power can do funny things to people!" he said solemnly.

"What about Barin?"

"He'll be ok. What we need to do now is………. Hetty?" the doctor looked around and the hold was now empty.

'**Theta**'

It started quietly. A whisper on the emptiness. How did they know that name. He was confused. He spun around trying to gauge where it was coming from.

'**Theta**' the sound echoed around him. It was gradually becoming louder. He shut his eyes trying to get a fix on where it was coming from. It was coming from all around him. When he opened his eyes again he gasped at the sight before him.

Dozens of battle scarred time lords stood before him. This made him take a step back.

"What? How?"

"**You killed us Theta**!" the chanted in unison.

"What? I had to, there was no other choice!" the doctor's voice cracked.

"**You left us all to die**!" shouted another.

"The Daleks had stormed the citadel, there was no other option. I had to put the Genocide project into action!" he pleaded with them.

"**I wanted to live**!" came a small voice. The doctor looked down to see a small boy. His clothes were battered and torn and he had an obvious head wound.

"If I hadn't destroyed Gallifrey with the Daleks on it their reign of terror would have spread to the rest of the galaxies and we wouldn't have been able to stop them! No one would!" the doctor was imploring them to listen.

"**There was another way**!" they all chanted.

"That was the only way! It was the hardest choice I have had to make! I did it for the good of all!" he fell to his knees as they kept chanting.

"**You killed us**!" The doctor curled protectively into the foetal position.

Suddenly the chanting stopped. The doctor uncovered his face and looked up. The group had gone. He wearily stood up and dusted himself down. After wiping his eyes and catching his breath he started to look again for Hetty. He made a 360 degree turn but saw no one. That is until he looked toward where the tardis once stood. Standing there was the one person he thought that he would never see again. Rose.

She looked the same as the day they had parted. He smiled and she smiled back. They seemed lost in time for a moment and then ran to each other. The doctor lifted her from the ground and swung her around. He savoured the smell of her hair and the touch of her body against his. The doctor lowered Rose to the floor and stared into her blue eyes.

"How? How?" she put her finger to his lips and broke their embrace and pulled him toward the airlock.

"**We don't have much time we have to go! We have to get to where it's safe**!"

"But the tardis, that's safe!" he said turning to look for it.

"**No! We can't they will know about that**!"

"Who?"

"**Them, come on**!" she said impatiently. She flashed him one of the smiles that melted him inside and carried on.

Hetty had been trying to get through to him. He had been shouting at something and now he was scaring her. He had sunk to his knees and she had tried to get the doctor up; but something was stopping her. She looked behind him to see Pam, Anna and Norman walking towards her.

"Oh no you don't! You aren't trying that one again!"

"**You don't deserve to live**!" they chanted. Hetty glanced behind her. The doctor was cowering on the floor obviously meeting his own demons.

"Why don't I? Tell me that!"

"**You are a killer**!"

"You are a alcoholic, you're a shopaholic and mum you're a neat-aholic!" she pointing to each of them in turn. She studied them. Norman just kept shuffling, Pam wrung her hands as she did when she was angry and Anna kept fiddling with her keys. No they weren't her keys, they were Hetty's, she could see the 'H' key ring dangling. Hetty smiled at her and lunged for the keys.

Orlan didn't have time to react. His power was being depleted by projecting too many nightmares. Hetty grabbed the sceptre and the struggle began.

DeSilva got back to the hold in time to see Hetty trying to wrestle the sceptre from Orlan's grip. The doctor was getting into the airlock and had sealed it. He ran over to stop him. Frantically he punched at the buttons but somehow the doctor had overridden the controls and the countdown to the opening of the airlock began. He banged on the glass to try and get his attention but he seemed to staring into space and smiling.

"**Doctor I have waited for this moment since that day at bad wolf bay. Finally we can be together**!" Rose smiled. The doctor's face broke into a broad grin. At that precise moment in time he was the happiest he had ever been.

Hetty looked deep into Orlan's eyes. He was a man possessed. He wasn't going to give it up lightly. She began to lose her grip on the sceptre. The apparitions of her family were getting more menacing and getting closer. She couldn't fail him.

"Hetty the doctors set the air lock to open in 1 minute what shall I do?" DeSilva shouted. Hetty's blood ran cold. She had to stop him; but first she had to stop Orlan.

The pressure in her shoulder was easing. Did this mean that was healed too? The thought struck her. The only way that she could stop him was to absorb the energy back herself. What would that do to her? She couldn't let the doctor die, she had seen what he had still to do and she needed him to live.

Hetty focused on a happy point in her life. The day that she came back to Manchester for good! The day she came home to Pam her mother. No amount of trickery was going to stop that happy feeling. She felt the sheer happiness start to well at the pit of her stomach. She thought back to the day she graduated from nursing school how Pam had been so proud of her.

The purple glow engulfed Hetty. The power of the Cartuceans had never left her. They had just become dormant. Orlan felt himself become weaker and weaker. He started to see people from his past gather around him. The Grentols, who he had swindled out of their life savings. The face of the countess Delmar as he extinguished her life. Hetty felt the power shift in her favour. She struggled to keep the visions of her parents to the back of her mind. All the while the countdown to the airlock opening was ticking away. She needed the happiest thought she could muster.

That was it! That night at Anna's wedding, the night she agreed to go with the doctor. The look of happiness in his eyes that night. That was the best thing ever. She screamed as the sceptre vibrated with the transference of power. Orlan was thrown backwards with the force.

The doctor was oblivious to what was happening outside of the airlock. All he could see and think about was the woman in front of him. His Rose. Her hair shimmered in the light above them. Her eyes danced as she looked at him.

"**Not long now my love and we shall be together for ever**!" she whispered coming close to him. The doctor took her in his arms and leaned in to kiss her. The kiss never hit home. The doctor's eyes shot open to reveal nothing. Rose had vanished.

DeSilva was pummelling the door.

"Doctor you have to override the system! Quickly!" the doctor returned to his senses and took out the sonic screwdriver and overrode the lock. The countdown had froze on 15 seconds to go. He breathed deeply. It was Orlan, he had projected a very vivid Rose. He was very close to being launched into space. The door to the airlock slid back to reveal a very worried looking DeSilva.

"Thank you!" he croaked.

"Were not out of the woods yet I'm afraid!" DeSilva moved aside so the doctor could see. The doctor put his hand to his brow to shield him from the light that seemed to be coming from the centre of the hold. He strained to look closer.

"Hetty?"

Hetty felt the immense power course through her veins. She was high above them all; she felt like a god. The people below were just ants to her. She had the sceptre firmly grasped in her hand. It felt good there; like it had belonged there all the time. She could see the others pain and suffering playing through her head like a movie, she would know exactly what buttons to press to get the desired effect.

"Hetty!" she could hear someone calling her. "Hetty!" she looked down and saw the doctor beckoning to her.

"_Doctor I feel….. Feel like I can do anything_!"

"Hetty you have to let it go, it will destroy you!"

"_I can't it is part of me now, I want what it can give me_!"

"All it will give you is misery and the power to cause misery to others!"

"_Nooooo I can make it work for good; you are just jealous time lord_!" Hetty spat evilly. The doctor stood in thought.

"Please, I need you to transfer the power into the sceptre and give it to me!" Hetty closed her eyes and looked for the one thing that had caused the doctor more pain than losing Rose.

The doctor turned to see his people walking towards him.

"**You must die doctor**!" they all began to chant.

"Hetty please you can't do this!" the doctor implored. Hetty watched him cower as he faced his nightmare. "Hetty please I….. I need you and I can't go on without….." the frame of the doctor was now disappearing under bodies all clambering to kill him.

What was she doing? This was the man who had saved her life, the man who said he would protect her with his own, the man whom she loved. She closed her eyes and forced the energy back into the sceptre. It hurt like hell, she screamed in pain and fell back to earth with a bang.

The doctor lay weeping. This was the end, his sacrifice of his people had now come to finish him. He felt their fingernails scratch at his clothes and body. Some reigned down blows. Then no sooner had it begun it stopped. He lay waiting for the next blow to hit home but it never came. Carefully he sat up. Hetty lay not far away, unconscious Barin stood over her.

"She's breathing, but she will be a little sore." the doctor sighed with relief. DeSilva was bent over the sceptre.

"Captain don't touch it!" the doctor shouted getting up. Suddenly DeSilva was knocked on to his back. Orlan stooped to pick up the sceptre.

"_Now doctor I will finish what I started_!" he bellowed. The doctor was unable to move.

Orlan stood holding the sceptre in front of him, he was becoming one with it.

"Noo Orlan stop!!" the doctor shouted running to stop him.

Barin got there first. He grabbed Orlan by the arms and held on to him for dear life.

"You are going to pay! You killed her so now I am going to do the same to you!" Barin half pushed and half carried Orlan to the air lock. Once inside he broke the lock which set the countdown going again. Both the doctor and DeSilva rushed over to stop him. The doctor frantically tried to get the panel to work but it was to no avail. He glared at Barin through the glass.

"Barin you don't have to do this!" shouted the doctor.

"I have nothing left now doctor; take good care of her, you will need her, she is the only one who can bring you back!" Barin smiled and grabbed onto Orlan and the sceptre even more tightly.

"Bring me back from what?" the doctor hollered. The outer air lock door slowly started to open. Barin looked at the doctor for the last time and smiled. Orlan was clawing at Barin's hands. The darkness of space claimed them both.

The doctor had carried Hetty to her room. On the surface she looked fine. It was what had happened on the inside that was worrying him. He closed the tardis door and walked a short distance to meet the captain.

"So I guess this is goodbye then!" the doctor said putting out his hand. DeSilva took it warmly and shook it.

"Thank you doctor, god knows where I would have been without you!"

"Well.. You'd have managed. Of course no one does troubleshooting quite like me!" he said putting his hands in his trouser pockets and rocking back on his heels. DeSilva laughed.

"What about Hetty?"

"Ohh she'll be ok, I'll let her rest and then maybe we will take a holiday… you know take our minds off it." he said scratching the back of his head.

"Well goodbye then doctor I hope I don't see you again too soon!" the doctor smiled and headed back into the tardis.

Hetty coughed politely as she entered the console room some time later. The doctor was sitting in the pilots seat reading 'Men are from Venus women are from mars'. He looked over the top of the book. His horn rimmed glasses were perched on the end of his nose.

"Feeling better?" he asked concerned and placed the book down next to him.

"A little!" she answered quietly. The doctor had got up from his seat and was now standing before her.

"How are you really feeling?" he said gently taking her hand.

"Like I've lost a good friend." Hetty tried to hold back the tears but they flowed freely. The doctor pulled her close to him and held her as she sobbed against his chest. He stroked her hair in comfort.

"You did what any ordinary human would have done." he said soothingly. Hetty pulled back so quickly that it made the doctor jump.

"Any ordinary human!" she screamed through her tears. "I'm never going to be an ordinary human again! Those things I saw…..they…"

"They will pass in time." he said wiping a tear from her cheek. She closed her eyes and savoured his touch.

"Will they?"

"I will help you, I will always be there to help you!" he said cupping her chin and tilting her head so that she could see into his eyes. Hetty sighed and felt herself getting lost in the pools of his eyes. He still held her chin and leaned in to kiss her. Hetty closed her eyes and waited.

The alarm brought them crashing back to the console room. The Doctor broke away and ran to the console. Hetty regained her composure and ran to his side.

"What is it?" the doctor was frantically turning knobs and pressing buttons.

"It's a message, who wants to talk to us this far out?" a speaker to Hetty's left crackled into life.

"Aha!" the doctor shouted feeling pleased with himself.

' This is a mess…………doctor…….need help………danger……Talok missing…….need you…….urgently…..'

"That was Callendor!" Hetty said warily. "What the hell is going on?" the doctor turned to her.

"It looks like were taking you home!"

The End for now.


End file.
